Andy Condon, director of the agency's Office of Research, acknowledges job growth in 2017 "has slowed significantly since peaking in the second quarter." Over the past 12 months, Connecticut has grown 5,000 jobs.

Connecticut Business and Industry Association economist Pete Gioia says this report signals a "full-blown crisis in jobs," noting Connecticut's unemployment rate is the highest in the region.

Connecticut has now recovered 69.9 percent or 83,000 of the 119,100 jobs lost in the Great Recession. That's compared to July, when the state had recovered 84 percent of those lost jobs.